Waffle iron



May 22, 1945. R. N. DICKEY 2,376,585

I WAFFLE IRON Original Filed Jan. 26, 1942 2 Sheets-$heet 1 INYENTOR 1%)/7 fl/cA gy BY ATTORNEY M y- 1945- R. N.-DICKEY 2,376,585

WAFFLE IRON Original Filed Jan. 26, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ROYN. U/(KL'Y' BY I ATTORNEY Patented May 22,1945

UNI TED STATES PATENT OF FIC E IRON Roy 'N. Dickey; Seattle, Wash,assignor to Meets- A-Need Manufacturing company, Seattle, ,Washacorporation of Washington Original application January 26, 1942,.SerialNo.

Divided and this. application January 18, 1943, Serial No. 472,654

1 Claim.

This invention relates to electrically heated cooking utensils, and hasreference more particularly to improvements in cooking utensils of thatcharacter illustrated and described in U. S. Letters Patent No.1,907,441, issued May 9, 1933, to John Campbell and Clarence H.Pickering; the present improvement being in the provision of means foradapting utensils of the character de scribed in the above patent forthe cooking of wafiles, and is a divisional part of my copendingapplication filed January 26, 1942, under Serial No. 428,202.

More specificallyv stated, the present invention has to do with certainimprovements indevices of that kind shown inthe above mentioned patem;to Campbell et al., relating to adaptation of the utensil to wafflecooking and embodying therein, an expandable hinge for the attachment ofthe top section to the bottom or base section, to permit that relativespreading movement ,of the parts that is desirable in view. of theexpanding of thewafile batter while being cooked between thecomplemental sections, and which also permits the full opening of thesections for the anticipated use of the device for cooking hotcakes, asdisclosed in the above mentioned patent.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide convenient meanswhereby the top section may be supported in a raised position fortheputting of waflle batter in the iron or for removal of the cookedWaffle.

More specifically stated, the present invention resides in theprovision, in a cooking utensil of Fig. l is a plan view ofi the presentutensil,

showing the top section fully opened.

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of the utensil on line 2--2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a partial end view, and partialcrosssectional view ottheutensil with-the sections closed together and showing the hingeconnection of the top and bottom sections whereby expansion of a wafllein cooking is provided for.

Fig. .4 is a detail illustrating the cooperating parts provided on thecomplemental wafile plates whereby the hingedly attached top section ofthe utensil may be supported in its raised position.

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail of the hinge connection; parts beingbroken away for better illustration.

The present device is designed somewhat along the plan of the device ofthe previously mentioned patent. However, it is 'to be explained thatwhile the device of the patent comprises electrically heated,.andhingedly attached complemental sections, adapted to be opened apart toprovide two horizontal cooking surfaces, and cake molds are provided andusable for transferring of hotcakes from one surface to the other andfor turning them over incident to, their transfer, the patent does notcontemplate, nor is it adapted to the interchangeable use of plates forthe baking of wafiles or hotcakes, and could not, as designed,

be used satisfactorily for wafiles, due to the charactor of the platesand the type of hinge connection used. In a copending application,Serial No.-428,202, filed January 26, 1942, I have described the presenttype of expandable hinge, and have illustrated the device for wafflecooking. This application relates to the same structure and. inaddition, its claims are to be based on the special support, that isused in combination with the expandable hinge, to support the topsection in. an upright open position.

Referring more in detail to the drawings- In its present preferred formof construction, the cooking utensil as embodied by this inventioncomprises complemental base and top sections; the former beingdesignated in its entirety by reference numeral l, and the lattersection being designated in its entirety by reference numeral 2. Thesetwo sections are connected by a hinge structure, designated generally at3, which permits the top section to be swung upwardly about a horizontalaxis, from its closed position resting flatly upon the base, as seen inFig. 3, to open position in which it is shown in Figs. 1 and 2,thus toprovide two, horizontal heating surfaces lying substantially in the sameplane for the cooking of hot cakes, as described in the copendingapplication of which this i'sa divisional part. 4

In the present instance, the base section I comprises anenclosinghousing 4 of metal and of oval outline, formed with aflaringskirt, orbase portion 4a, and this is equipped with suitable legs 5 whereby tosustain the device spaced somewhat above any supporting surface on whichit might be placed.

The top section 2 of the device comprises a formed housing 6 of metal,corresponding in outline to the upper portion of the base section, andprovided at the side opposite'the hinge connection with a knob, orhandle I, which serves as a convenient means whereby the top section maybe swung about the hinge axis between open and closed positions, andalso, when the device is in open position, serves as a supporting leg toengage the table top or other surface on which the utensil is placed, tosupport the heating plates mounted by the two sections, in the sameplane, as will be understood by reference to Fig. 2.

Set down somewhat within the top edge of the base housing, is ahorizontal plate in having two circular basins H and H formed therein,and each of these basins contains an electrical heating element l2carried in insulating spools 13 which are suitably fixed to the plate.These elements have electrical connection through means contained withinthe base housing, with circuit wires leading through a thermostaticswitch, designated at [4 in Fig. 3, to a suitable supply of current. Inthis instance, the flow of current is under control of a switchadjusting knob l5 at the front of the housing.

Fitted in the open side of the housing 6 of the top section 2, as notedin Fig. 2, is a plate 16, and this is formed with two, circulardepressions or basins IT and H, in the positions as indicated in dottedlines in Fig. 1. These latter basins, l'l-- H, are of the same size asthose formed in the plate ll] of the base section, and when the topsection of the utensil is closed over the bottom section, as in Fig. 3,the basins therein and basins II and H of plate IE], will besubstantially in vertical alinement. The basins l1-ll' also are equippedWithheating elements, designated at m, supported by insulators I300, andthese elements are also connected to the supply circuit through switchl4 under control of switch knob I5.

It is-to be observed by reference to Figs. 2 and 3 that the plates [0and i6 are set down within the open side of their respective housings 4and 6 to provide space for the reception of the interchangeable platesfor cake or waffle baking.

It will be explained that the utensil as herein illustrated is equippedwith plates for the cooking of waffles. The wafiie plates are shown bestin Fig. 1, and are designated respectively by reference characters 45and 46; the plate 45 being the bottom plate and is to be applied to thebase section I while plate 46 is the top plate and is applied to the topsection 2.

The present waffle plates are designed for baking two wafiies at a time,and each is therefore formed with two molds, each mold comprising, inthe top and bottom plates, a succession of alternating, concentricallyarranged grooves and ridges, as designated at 41 and 48, which, inclosing of the sections of the utensil together, will be brought intocoacting relationship, as understood by the sectional portion of Fig. 3;it being noted that the ridge portions of one plate coincide with thegroove portions of the complemental plate when the sections of theutensil are closed as for the baking of a waffle between them.

When the waffle plates are applied, they closely overlie the plates Inand I 4, and the contained heating elements I2 and I220 are uniformlyheated over their entire surfaces.

In order that the top section of the utensil may be supported in an openposition when such is desired, the plate 46 is provided at the hingeside with laterally extending lugs 50, formed with square cut, vertical,walled channels 5| in alinement, and the plate 45 is formed at theadjacent edge with lateral'wings 53, adapted, when the plate 45 has beenswung substantially to a vertical plane, to be received in the channels5!, thus to support the top section in an upright position, and justslightly inclined toward the full open position, as noted by referenceto Fig. 4. When it is desired to seat the wings 53 in the lug channels,the section 2 is merely swung to upright position, through its hingeconnections, then slightly lifted to permit the wings to be received inthe slots, then is lowered to the position as shown in Fig. 5. It willlater be understood that the hinge connection 3 provides for themovement. To unseat the wings, the section is lifted slightly, then itmay be swung to closed position.

The hinge structure 3 whereby the two sections of the utensil arejoined, is illustrated best in Figs. 3 and 4, and it comprises thefollowing parts: Fixed on the back wall of the housing 6 is a hingeplate 60 having a rearwardly directed flange 61 along its lower edgeterminating in a cylindrical curl 62 in which a hinge pin 63 iscontained, with its endsextending slightly beyond the ends of theflange.

Likewise, fixed on the back wall of housing 4 is a hinge plate 66 havingan out-turned flange 61 along its top edge, and this is formed with avertically, downturned plate 68, with opposite end extensions 69 and 69which lie in vertical planes.

Disposed in a plane parallel with and lying outside of the plate 68, asseen in Fig. 3, is a flat plate 10 with inturned flanges or wings H andH at its oposite ends. At their upper ends, these wings, respectively,are pivoted on the opposite ends of the hinge pin 63, and formed in thewings lengthwise thereof, are vertical slots 12 which slidably containthe extension portions 69 and 69' of the plate 68 therein. These slotsare longer than the height of the extension portions 69 and 69' andtherefore the plate 10 may be raised or lowered to the extent permittedby the limits of the slots 12, and this movement is such as required forthe usual expansion of wafile batter during a cooking operation.However, the hinging action provided by the connection of pin 63 withthe upper ends of the wings 'H--'H retains the section 2 in'properrelationship to section I.

The present hinge structure, designated in its entirety by numeral 3, isimportant as it provides that the two sections l and 2 be permanentlyjoined in a hinged connection which accommodates the utensil toexpansion that is incident to cooking of batter therein, and at the sametime accommodates the device to the interchangeable use of cake andwaiile molds without necessitating the disconnection of the .hinge..

. The provision of the channeled-lugs 50, on the base plate, to receivethe projections 53 of the top plate, provides for the easy andconvenient supporting of the top section in raised position, 'and in aconnection that requires that the top section be lifted in order toeffect its release.

It is apparent that the slots 5| might be applied to the top sectionand'the projection 53 put on the other, if such should be desired.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a cooking utensil of the character described,

comprising bottom and top sections, an expanding hinge connecting thesections centrally at the back edge thereof to adapt the top section tobe opened upwardly and to swing rearwardly into the same horizontalplane as the lower section, mold plates mounted in said sections for thecooking of a waffle, or the like, between them; said mold plate of thebottom section having lugs projecting therefrom at the hinge side of theutensil at opposite ends of the hinge axis and each formed with atransverse, upwardly opening channel in the vertical plane of the axis,and said plate of the top section being formed with flanges at the hingeside corresponding to and adapted to be received in said lug channelswhen the top section has been moved to an upright position, to retainthe top in that position, and to be held in'the clear of said lugs forfull opening of the utensil by expanding of the hinge.

ROY N. DICKEY.

